Major city: Lyon

Two hours from Paris by TGV train
Known best for the French Alps, excellent skiing, hiking, biking and outdoor activities
Gastronomic capital of France with many famous chefs
Spas and resorts

The Rhone-Alps region lies nestled beneath the impressive flanks of Mont Blanc, Europe's highest peak at 15,771 feet, and protector of the regions borders with Switzerland and Italy.
The region presents an extraordinary natural environment: stunning mountains offering some of the finest and most extensive skiing areas in the world such as the Three Valleys, Val d'Isère and Chamonix, lush valleys filled with orchards and the vineyards of Beaujolais and the Rhone Valley, great riverways and scores of crystalline lakes; the deep gorges and high plateaux of the Ardèche, studded with prehistoric caves, and national parks full of deep forests and flower-filled meadows.

Apart from its spectacular scenery, Rhone-Alps's two thousand-year history as a cultural crossroads has blessed the region with a rich blend of customs, architecture and sights of interest. The city of Lyon boasts an especially diverse architectural heritage dating from Gallo-Roman remains to stylish modern buildings, with a magnificent Renaissance old city, 27 museums and a multitude of shops specializing in everything from silk to antiques to marionettes.

Not far from Lyon lie the vineyards and golden-stone villages of the Beaujolais, the Dombes "land of a thousand lakes," the medieval village of Pérouges and the Roman ruins of Vienne with its yearly jazz festival.

Eastward, toward the Alps, one finds the university cities of Grenoble, full of art and folklore museums and Chambéry, with its Chateau of the Dukes of Savoy, and Chartreuse, home of the Carthusian Monastery and famous for its distilled liquor of the same name. Here are also the turn-of-the-century towns of Annecy, Aix-les Bains, Evian and Divonne-les-Bains, the last three as popular for their casinos as they are for their spas.

But the Rhone-Alps' "pièce de résistance" is its famous cuisine. Five of France's 19 three-star chefs work their magic here, citing the quality of local produce, fish and game as the key to their success.